Dr Larry Arnn, President, Hillsdale College, USA

America is beset with bureaucracy. Several million people work in public education and most of them aren’t teachers. The effect of charter laws is to decentralise the management of schools, a major advantage

In my last Letter from America (March), I wrote that Hillsdale College is sponsoring over 100 “charter schools” with more in the pipeline. Let me explain charter schools.

“Charter” in this usage is a synonym for contract. Most state governments in America have passed laws permitting private citizens to manage schools under a special charter or contract. This permits these schools to receive public funds but run their own affairs with greater latitude. The terms vary by the state and even by city or town. In many states, they are liberal enough to permit the school to operate differently from regular “public schools”, our name for what in India are known as “government schools”. Usually, this money is paid per student enrolled in the charter school, and is usually lesser than the amount regular public schools receive. In most states, it is enough to educate children often with some help from parents and others. Meanwhile the government schools are left with more funding per pupil, for the pupils that remain. In theory and sometimes in practice, this eases their displeasure.

The effect of charter laws is to decentralise the management of schools, a major advantage. America is beset with bureaucracy. Several million people work in public education, and most of them aren’t teachers. Look at the ratio of teachers to non-teachers in any private school in India, and I expect you will find that teachers constitute most of the staff. Not in regular government schools in America.

One wonders what these other employees do. Of course, many of them maintain financial records, which is necessary. Many of them also write rules for the operation of classrooms. These rules are written by people who don’t spend time in classrooms. Therefore, the rules and regulations become innumerable and complex. Often, they serve goals other than the direct goal of learning. I believe the people of India have some experience with bureaucracy, and if I am right, they will know what I am talking about.

The growth of bureaucracy in America is a relatively recent phenomenon. It has grown to advanced size in every department of government. It is particularly dysfunctional in the world of education, in my opinion, because of the nature of education and the nature of people.

What are those natures? Human beings understand and communicate in a different way than other earthly creatures. All children learn to talk, just by watching and hearing and without elaborate instruction. The animals who live in our households, seeing and hearing the same things, don’t learn, at least nothing like so well. We are built to do this, and Western classic philosophers argue this is central to our nature. The ability to use a word, a sound, to signify not only a thing but also a kind of thing is unique to us. Every horse is different, but we all know a horse when we see one. We can do this when we first learn to talk, usually before age two.

This has profound implications for what we are and how we live. I will elaborate this point further in a future essay. Suffice it to say for now that our richer understanding means we can learn more and faster than other creatures. Further, we have a natural desire to learn. The Greek philosopher Aristole’s great work Metaphysics, begins with the sentence: “the human being stretches himself out to know”. Horses love to run, and they are good at it. We naturally love to learn, and we are good at it. Of course, having children and grandchildren, I know that children love to run as well, but learning is their special province. We admire human beings who run fast. We admire the wise among us even more.

If children are built to learn, then the achievement of learning is chiefly within them. We cannot learn for them anymore than we can make a plant to grow. As in gardening, so in education, we can and must help children grow. We can do that best when we are near the child, and when we love children. That is why authority over schools should be located as near the child as possible.

Just as the gardener, tending his plants, must be close to the plants, so the teacher and the parent must be close to the child to help it grow.

I’m informed that private education in India is almost half the whole, an excellent development in my opinion. I also understand that in recent years, the government of India has found ways to deal directly and simply with citizens in the construction of homes and toilets, where previously there were more layers of administration to navigate. This reminds me of the education reforms that have proliferated in America. These reforms permit citizens to take control of education, student by student and school by school.

I suggest the decentralisation efforts that have occurred in India should be extended to education. Whoever does that will do a great service to India and the world.

Also read: LETTER FROM AMERICA: Bitter-sweet Commencement